Maybe the elephants would disagree, but the hardest-working performer at Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus has got to be Bello Nock.

The 36-year-old, high-haired comic daredevil not only runs, jumps and somersaults around the Vortex of Vertigo – which he calls “a 40-foot-long hamster wheel” – but he also leaps from a diving board onto a trampoline and generally runs rings around everyone else without ever once mussing his 9-inch hairdo.

Naturally, we were curious. Here’s what Bello – a seventh-generation circus guy – told us about that gravity-defying do.

Q: Does high hair run in your family?

A: My dad was completely bald at a young age. And my three brothers have a shaved head, hair transplant and receding hairline.

Q: How do you get it to stick up like that?

A: I towel-dry it and bend over and look at a mirror between my legs and then blow-dry it upside down. I use a little hairspray. It stays that way pretty naturally.

Q: How long have you been wearing your hair up?

A: Since I was 12. I got a crewcut and wound up with a bad sunburn on my head.

Q: Does your hairstyle have a name?

A: Originally it was a flat-top, but now I think it’s a high-top.

Q: Does anyone dare to cut your hair?

A: My wife is my hair designer. She usually cuts it. In the hot weather, I may cut it back to six inches.

Q: Do people make fun of you or call you names because of the unusual style?

A: In New York, people will call out, “Hey, cool hair dude!” But if they laugh at me, it’s fine. Laughter is good medicine and I’m a clown at heart.